Asian Trade Agencies And Web Usability

Best Practice

A s ian trad e agencies and w eb us ability Research commissioned by Public Sector Technology & Management sheds light on the usability of 13 trade agency web sites in the region. Commentary: Trent Mankelow. n the rush to push service and information online, g overnment ag encies have encountered the challeng e of mak ing the complex internal processes and information resources of g overnment as transparent and as manag eable as possible, from the user perspective. Public Sector Technology & M a na gem ent commissioned research into the w eb usability of 1 3 trade ag encies in the reg ion, w ith a view to assessing how adeq uately these sites served their intended ex ternal audiences. T he usability assessment w as carried out in January 2 0 0 5 , and review ed the functionality and desig n of the w eb sites, along w ith the value of the available content.

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L e a d e r s International E nterprise S ing apore (w w w .iesinga p ore.gov.s g) topped the overall rank ing s, offering relevant content that w as professionally presented and easy to navig ate. B eyond this the site's content w as comprehensive - and presentation made the information easily accessible at hig h and detailed levels.A deq uate tools w ere provided to help users find desired information w ith detailed contact information for q ueries. P artially as a result of the site's volume of content, the user's current location w as not easily visible, and the rich visual presentation style resulted in slow pag e load times. N ew Z ealand T rade and E nterprise (w w w .nz te.gov t.nz ) came a close second, as a result of the thoug htful org aniz ation of categ ories, and population of relevant information. T his site w as the most tex t- based site of

T rent Mank elow , Optimal Usability

the thirteen evaluated, and the content w as comprehensive and easy to navig ate. P ag es w ere easily scanned and w ell formatted to g ive users summary or detailed information as req uired. Users could also easily identify the current location using the left hand navig ation. A lthoug h users w ere g iven g ood information if they w ished to mak e further q ueries, online feedback w as not alw ays accessible and there w as a lack of comprehensive F A Q s. A ustrade (w w w .a ustra d e.gov.a u) w as also w ell categ orised for users helping them g et to relevant information q uick ly. T he main pag e link ed into other specific w eb sites that provided more detailed user- specific information. C ontent w as comprehensive and g rouped from a user perspective rather than an org anisational structure. T he T hailand B oard of Investment site (w w w .boi.go.th/ english) w as one of the best sites evaluated. N ot only w as it w ell structured and easy to navig ate throug h, but the content w as comprehensive and g rouped according to users' most lik ely req uirements. T he site provided both top navig ation and shortcuts to major

20 Public Sector T echnology & Management May/June 2005

information g rouping s, and users w ere k ept aw are of current location and their navig ation options. T he site w as less strong on support and service aspects: customers w ere not g iven adeq uate contact details if they w anted to mak e further enq uiries, and the search facility w as not so robust, g enerating mistak es.

B a c k t o b a s ic s T he remaining sites suffered from a number of fundamental desig n problems, g enerally related to the structuring of information. A common problem w as that content w as poorly categ orised, reflecting internal ag ency considerations rather than those of ex ternal business and citiz en users. T he big g est problems that w ere observed from the usabil-

ity assessment come back to some very basic principles: g overnment ag encies need to ensure that users k now w here they are, w here they have been and w here they can g o to. It is amaz ing the number of sites that brok e these simple rules to help people find their w ay to the information they w ere look ing for. T he nex t most common problem relates to the 'findability' of information. It is crucial that a site supports the users' g oals, w hich almost alw ays involve finding information. Most of the assessed org aniz ations need to put more emphasis on their labelling and navig ation desig n in order to improve the findability of information. Trent M a nk elow is a D irector w ith N ew Z ea la nd -ba sed O p tim a l U sa bility. L a st yea r the firm w a s com m issioned to rev iew 1 1 0 N ew Z ea la nd gov ernm ent sites, a nd d ocum ent their p rogress rela tiv e to N ew Z ea la nd 's e-gov ernm ent stra tegy.

Asian trade agency usability ranking 1. International Enterprise Singapore 2. New Zealand Trade and Enterprise 3. Austrade 4. Thailand Board of Investment 5. Indonesia's Investment Coordinating Board 6. Korean Economic Portal 7. Sri Lanka Board of Investment 8. The Philippines Board of Investment 9. Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation 10. India in Business 11. Pakistan Board of Investment 12. Hong Kong Trade Development Council 13. Invest in China Source: Optimal Usability. Ranked in order of usability; figures represent percentage of maximum score.

82% 77% 75% 66% 65% 65% 62% 62% 62% 59% 57% 55% 54%